Some good books?

[FOF]

I just ordered "Focke-Wulf 190 in combat" by Alfred Price.

What books do you guys have? Any suggestions for further reading?

[andyo2000]

2 books:

"100 Years of World Military Aircraft" by Norman Polmar and Dana Bell. It's very informative and covers the important planes of every age.

And also "The Influence of Air Power upon History", by Walter J. Boyne. He is a great writer, and this book discusses in length exactly what it says on the title. Interesting, with numbers, but not too many.

[simon]

Paul Brickhill's "The Dambusters" is a good account of the history and operations of 617 Sqn, although it is a little dated now, it's still a very interesting book.

Len Deighton's "Fighter" is a good account of the Battle of Britain, and "Blitzkreig" dealing with the German attack through France and the Low Countries is also well worth a read.

For an overall view of the war as a whole "The World at War" is a pretty good, and overall unbiased account.

[PMN1]

'The Most Dangerous Enemy, A History of the Battle of Britain'by Stephen Bungay is turning out to be quite a good one.

'Wilfred Freeman - the genius behind allied survival and air supremecy 1939 to 1945' by Anthony Furze is also quite good though some of Furze's praise does get a bit heavy.

The big problem is what some people regard as interesting may be regarded as crap by someone else and could turn out to be a costly mistake - the library system has saved me quite a bit of money giving me a chnace to borrow before buying.

[tenmmike]

if you like german aircraft you cannot beat WARPLANES OF THE THIRD REICH its out of print but you can pick it up for about $100 bucks in very good condition one of the few truly great books... in the weapons dept pick FLYING GUNS world war 2 by anthony williams and bill gusten its only 1 yr old, excellant .. ANY book by ch bergstrom like the BLACK CROSS RED STAR series and GRAF AND GRISWILAWOSKI his stuff is the best, very expensive though but should come down in price shortly when he wrote me last ..BLOND KNIGHT OF GERMANY about eric hartmann very good,STUKA PILOT about rudel also very good ,hell i can go on for a while but i hate typing

[PMN1]

Two good books are RAF Bomber Command and its aircraft 1936-1940 and RAF Bomber Command and its aircrfat 1941- 1945 both by James Goulding and Philip Moyes.

The first charts the developemnt of RAF Bombers pre war. It has some interesing drawings for the never made it proposals for B12/36 (including the Supermarine design) and P12/36. It also has some good drawings for the B1/39 spec (these bombers were ared with 4 x 20mm cannon in dorsal and ventral turrets) and charts the early development of the Mosquitto.

The second charts the development of the aircraft during the war, how the Manchester evolved into the Lancatsre, the improvements to the Halifax, the further development of the Mosquitto, the development of the Buckingham, the development of the Hawker High Speed Bomber (P.1005), a proposal for a super stirling, the development of the Windsor and finally proposals for RAF Superbombers to rival the B-29 or even B-36.

[PMN1]

quote:Originally posted by PMN1

Two good books are RAF Bomber Command and its aircraft 1936-1940 and RAF Bomber Command and its aircrfat 1941- 1945 both by James Goulding and Philip Moyes.

The first charts the developemnt of RAF Bombers pre war. It has some interesing drawings for the never made it proposals for B12/36 (including the Supermarine design) and P12/36. It also has some good drawings for the B1/39 spec (these bombers were ared with 4 x 20mm cannon in dorsal and ventral turrets) and charts the early development of the Mosquitto.

The second charts the development of the aircraft during the war, how the Manchester evolved into the Lancatsre, the improvements to the Halifax, the further development of the Mosquitto, the development of the Buckingham, the development of the Hawker High Speed Bomber (P.1005), a proposal for a super stirling, the development of the Windsor and finally proposals for RAF Superbombers to rival the B-29 or even B-36.




As I mentioned previous, you may want to try the library service first though.

[R Leonard]

And for the other side of the world try these two definitive works by John Lundstrom:
[u]The First Team - Pacific Naval Air Combat from Pearl Harbor to Midway</u>, Naval Institute Press, 1984 and
[u]The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign - Naval Fighter Combat from August to November 1942</u>, Naval Institute Press, 1994
Also look at Eric Bergerud's [u]Fire in the Sky - The Air War in the South Pacific</u>, Westview Press, 2000

[simon]

Another good one well worth a read is called "Duel beneath the Stars", written by an ex-luftwaffe Nightfighter pilot about his experiences. I can't remember the author's name though and it's been a few years since I read it.

[PMN1]

You could also try 'I Flew for the Fuhrer' by Heinz Knoke.

Its his diary of his actions from the start of the war to fairly close to the end when he was invalided out due to wounds.

It describes his battles against the RAF over Norway all the way through to battles with the US 8th Air Force

[BuzzLightyear]

Go here and peruse:

http://www.aeroplanebooks.com/